Anarchy Online Concept Art collection! Looking for more missing items

Timba · May 12, 2018, 6:25pm

(originally started on Jun 30th, 2016)
Hey there!

I’m sure some of you have noticed that the game we all are (still) playing has reached three days ago it’s 15th anniversary!
I love looking back in time to see the history, and this is why I’ve been looking at old concept art, noticing there’s pretty much no exhaustive concept art compilation to be found!
I did search for an Art book, but found out one was never released for Anarchy Online, pity. Then, I took it to the internet and found out AO-Universe has a collection of images, but not complete. Finding a few pieces here and there, I had an idea.

Why not start a collection, to share with people, make it a gallery, sorting and trying to find the highest quality images that are still around, and propose a crowd effort so people can find and add pieces of art that aren’t already or are of a higher quality.

Thus, I present you the gallery:
Google Drive Link

I have taken to the internet and reached out to some far corners of it to bring you whatever Anarchy Online concept art I could find, in the highest quality available. That meant looking around Portfolios (I found a few artists that worked on AO that shared their art), around Google, AO-Universe, around old FTPs and sites, some dark corner of the internet, and other methods to bring what’s in there.

Take a look, I’m sure there are people who haven’t seen Anarchy Online concept art before ( or parts of it! ). The Shadowlands art is particularly unique.

I’ll be sorting the pictures in the upcoming days and trying to add references to artists. All the art is owned by Funcom or the artist that made it, I am not distributing it or making money, just centralizing it for it not to be lost in the depths of the internet.

If people have art or development videos/screenshots and wish to contribute, please, do so! PM or thread it. Maybe we can convince Funcom or Michi to pitch a release for a 20th anniversary Collector’s Edition Artbook in a few years!

TO FIND:

Timba · May 12, 2018, 6:36pm

HISTORY:

30.06.2016:
– Made the gallery

02.07.2016:
– Partial sort of gallery
– Added AO Special Edition Bonus disc content + ISO ( TY Slackin )
– Added contents of Funcom FTP ( TY Yumehime )

03.07.2016:
– Added 10 concept arts not found on web (./to_find/concept_ao_classic pictures), marked as TO FIND
– Started work on identifying what I could + adding artists
– Added more various concept arts
– Added 2 concept arts from Michizure’s Twitter
– Added hidden Lost Eden concept arts from old Funcom AO website

15.07.2016:
– Added all game ISOs ( TY Mastablasta ) (discs folders)
– Added Classic game box print template (./media/other)
– Added more New Engine heads (./development\engine_upgrade\new_heads)
– Added some New Engine screenshots showcasing updating nano effects (./development\engine_upgrade\new_cc_rough_XX.jpg)

18.07.2016:
– Added 2 more concept arts not found on web. From old AO website flash file (./to_find/slX.png)
– Added scanned box art for Classic box + game manual/keyboard layout ( TY Mastablasta )

20.07.2016:
– Added all the game CDs, Sleeved box art, Help manuals, ( TY Mastablasta x2!)
– Added high QL Shadowlands map PSD/jpg in shadowlands/maps/shadowlands_map_clean
– Sorted this thread to hotlink TO FIND images, maybe people can find them if they can see them
– Indexed all unknown artwork image headers from archived AO website
– Added an Alien Invasion Game Guide

22.07.2016:
– Fixed static thumbnails

29.07.2016:
– Renamed most of SL artwork to proper given names.
– Removed hdrContact from to find ( was scaled & stretched off LoX concept ), hdrFansites = back of exterior SL case
– Added 2 SL concepts into to find (sl3.jpg and sl4.jpg)
– Digged deep into IGN and found 16 updated high resolution SL artwork ( Including the 2 above )
– Found hdrFansites from to find, removed it and added the concept to the SL folder ( 487386-s_016.jpg ). It’s the one on the behind of the SL box.
– Found hdrCharacters, was a classic AO concept, probably by Vebjorn_Strommen, published in a magazine. Header was rotated and scaled, so removed from to find, and added magazine page as “ao_girl.png”.
– Found 7 pictures on Michizure’s Twitter, was able to get 2 new concepts, 2 new development pictures, and 3 higher res pictures.

24.12.2016:
– Added a few logos for Expansions from the new website.
– Tidied up the gallery, removed duplicates.

12.01.2017:
– Added an unreleased Phasefront Racing Track preview from AO’s unofficial Facebook.

23.02.2017
– Posted on Steam as a guide
– Added new Analytics link

20.06.2017
– Added Saavick’s Rubi Ka map, thanks.
– Added higher ress AO Babe by Vebjørn Strømmen
– Added 3 never before seen concept arts by Ole Jacob Kielland
– Added 1 never before seen concept art from Markersketches

03.07.2017
– Happy 1 year anniversary!
– Added Shadowlands Language translation.
– Touched up some other images.

12.05.2018
– Moved post to new Anarchy Online forum.

01.03.2019
– Added 1x new Classic concept art version, posted on AO’s Facebook page.

03.03.2019
– Added 1x “new server” Serpentine armor concept art piece, posted on Funcom’s AO Twitch stream on Feb 27

04.12.2023
– Added “AO Patches” from the FTP.
– Added new concept art from various press kits.
– Updated various concept art from various press kits.

Timba · May 12, 2018, 6:54pm

This post has a few examples from my gallery:
Classic:

Notum Wars:

Shadowlands:

Alien Invasion:

Lost Eden:

Legacy of the Xan:

Timba · May 13, 2018, 11:06pm

Gallery contains much more info than concept arts as well.

Shadowlands alphabet!
Pre-production info.
Scanned box arts and cds for Classic, Shadowlands and Alien Invasion.
Scanned game manuals, promotions, etc.
Have all the CDs, extracted as ISO images (Classic 2 CDs, Shadowlands 2 CDs, Alien Invasion 3 CDs)
Have a fair bit of development related items ( some never released, engine wip, Genesis-Tide tool)
Have a lot of media (interviews, trailers, AO Animated Series, Prophet without Honor, the AO Soundtrack)

Would love to add anything noteworthy for the preservation of this game until we reach Rubi Ka time and beyond .

Please, let me know if you know of ANYTHING else ( leads, files, media, concepts, ideas ) I have not already covered. Contributing will help us complete this as much as possible. Maybe one day we’ll see it launched as a Collector’s Edition book of sorts…

sterva · June 30, 2018, 5:01am

This is so neat. I have nothing to contribute in the way of official art, just lots of old videos and screen shots, but thanks to you, I took an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Higain · September 2, 2018, 8:21pm

Maybe you could use archive.org as a trusted permanent backup site? If archive org goes down, that would literally mean the Internet has failed.

Nice job getting this stuff all sorted

oheyspun · October 10, 2018, 1:32pm

I just want to post here and thank you so much for this. It is really exciting to see all of these images from my childhood.

bitnykk · November 21, 2018, 9:19am

@Timba : for the record, i worked on newest SL map only and shouldn’t be credited for the newest RK map which is Saavick’s work

Higain · January 23, 2019, 10:03pm

Found this wallpaper on archive org but now i’m unsure exactly where:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A"Anarchy+Online+Community"

Saavick · February 11, 2019, 12:11pm

I was recently looking for an image of the original CD and found it in your Google Drive, much appreciated

I have two questions though

1: There are two ISO’s in your drive:

concept art\classic\discs\Anarchy_Online.iso
concept art\classic\discs\AO_SpecialEdition_BonusCD.iso

The second one (the “Bonus CD”) gives me an error when I try to mount it with Windows 10. Does this work for you, or is the file corrupt?

2: According to this post, some CDs came with version 11.0 and others with 12.0. The one in your drive is 11.0. Do you maybe have an image of the 12.0 disc too? This would be interesting since 12.0 can be patched further, while 11.0 can only be patched directly to 14.7.3.

Timba · March 1, 2019, 9:41pm

Hey!
Kind reminder that I am still looking for a few pieces of concept art:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxuVjelTHvdWanBFUmJaMURMQ1U

@bitnykk : I apologize if I did a mistake by wrongly crediting someone else ; If it’s still relevant, please direct me where I did so that I can rectify Thanks!

@Higain : I already had that one, in Classic. I’ll check archive.org for more.

@Saavick :

Windows 10, I can’t seem to open it either, strange. Try with some older tools like Daemon Tools or something else. I can’t seem to remember where I got it from.
I’m not sure if I can provide that specific one either. These discs were kindly scanned by another user.

bitnykk · March 2, 2019, 12:37am

This is Saavick’s work, thanx to edit your post

Timba · March 2, 2019, 4:02am

Edited

Added one variant (finished, I guess) of a Notum Wars AO piece. I’m not sure if it was finished recently (remastered), or an older version that was never published.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zSuTwTkEAn62fCOiXF-A-t2kjH63MvTi (Original https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxuVjelTHvdWQWExeVFrX2RKakk )
Fun Fact: These are versions of the Notum Wars box cover: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxuVjelTHvdWbFkxcEhVc081bVE

New:

Older:

Timba · March 3, 2019, 11:47am

Added one more concept art piece, for one of the new armors (named Serpentine) showcased on the AO Twitch stream, one that will be added for the new server.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dfkazTx-8IYEwBI1cqhHaGv3FT7bjgDg

Timba · March 4, 2019, 11:06pm

This weekend, I will be running the whole concept art gallery through a Neural Network that will increase the resolution of certain items, without impacting the quality at all.
An example that can be seen is this picture that I tested upon:

Normal: https://i.imgur.com/xkuqX7D.jpg - 1000x659, 269KB
Enhanced: https://i.imgur.com/BxmiKPE.jpg - 2000x1318, 1.1MB

Funcom: Am I allowed to upscale concept art?
@AndyB

Redtricks · March 4, 2019, 11:38pm

Whoa.

Timba · August 18, 2023, 10:15am

I keep seeing Google access requests for my concept art collection. Do people really still use it?

Timba · November 25, 2023, 11:59am

I see why, Goo.gl was closed in 2019. I’ve edited the URL link to point directly to the Drive location.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxuVjelTHvdWRFQ1eE1WQmNkYXc?resourcekey=0-_ioV-8mB3r1TwCgzzbNinw&usp=sharing

Timba · December 5, 2023, 4:56am

Did a few changes to the gallery, added many higher-res Concept Arts (Classic, Lost Eden, Alien Invasion). Added all the patches, as a mirror. Also made a link on discord, for visibility!